Ronald and Ginerva
by Courtney-Helena Greene
Summary: It wasn't that they didn't want them; they couldn't afford them. It's based on Hansel and Gretel; TW for abuse.


**RONALD AND GINERVA**

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**SUMMARY**

It wasn't that they didn't want them; they couldn't afford them. It's based on Hansel and Gretel; TW for abuse.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

So this is my entry for the sixth round of the QLFFC. It's based off of Hansel and Gretel, and that becomes kind of obvious. It kind of sucks, but I don't really care, I'm tired D:

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**DISCLAIMER**

I do not own Harry Potter or the tale of Hansel and Gretel.

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**RONALD AND GINERVA**

The little couple sat at the table, running hands through frizzed red hair. Freckles were lost in lines of worry and nails were bitten to nubs.

"We can't keep doing this, Arthur," the woman mumbled, "Something has to go."

"We've nothing left, Moll," Arthur pressed his pale face into paler hands and sighed heavily. Across the table sat half-completed equations that attempted to sum up what they could spend. So far it was enough for each child to have half a slice of bread a day and a cup of herb soup. "This is no way to live."

"How in God's name are wegoing tofound our way out of this?" Molly pulled at her dirty hair, ignoring the grey that littered the red.

Arthur stared at the table, then lifted his eyes to meet hers. "There's that woman... In the forest..."

Molly's tired eyes grew wide as of she were just punched in the gut. "What?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and dug his fingers into the old wood table. "She jut wants our two youngest. 500,000 pounds. We'd be rich, and we'd want for nothing."

Her eyes went blank and her chubby cheeks drooped. "Ginerva and Ronald..?" she shook her head vehemently. "Not for all the gold in the world."

"I think it's really their choice now, love..." Arthur reached for Molly, who stood up quickly.

"Don't you speak to me that way. Don't you dare go to my good, selfless children and ask them to do anything that involves that wench in the woods," wiping the years from her eyes, Molly stormed off.

Arthur gazed after her. "I won't ask them," he reasoned, "I'll just tell them our situation."

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"I cannot BELIEVE you let us get roped into this!" Ginerva screeched, her words echoing in the seemingly endless forest as she grasped the little book in her hands, contemplating tearing it to shreds.

Ronald pulled his sweater tighter. "It's for the good of the family, Ginny."

Ginerva wiped away tears of abandonment and rage. "The family? We stopped being a family the second father scammed us into this."

Ronald turned on his heel. "First of all, we don't even know what 'this' is. Second, we love each other. We care for each other. Whatever we do in these woods will give our family 500,000 pounds. That means that our brothers can go to university, they can each have their own bedrooms, they don't have to starve to death in that shithole we call home. Whatever we do will benefit them, so can you stop being so selfish, Ginny?"

Ronald turned and continued walking, hunting something he didn't even know. As he heard his sister sniffling behind him, he squeezed his little cerulean eyes shut. He grasped her hand tightly, whispering 'I'm sorry'.

He was sorry.

He was really sorry.

Ronald was always sorry.

Ginerva gripped her book tighter.

* * *

Ginerva would come to recall this part as 'the fuzzy moments'.

She had memories of running, a lot of running, probably from wolves or other things. She had a memory of the smell of cakes, but that was extraordinarily irrational, they told her. People don't bake cakes in the forest, they told her. But nonetheless she could remember the smell of cakes, and on top of that she could readily imagine a whole house of cake, with a peanut brittle roof and gingerbread doors, jolly rancher windows and a licorice garden. She didn't tell them about that, though. They already thought she was crazy.

She could almost see an old woman with no eyes, an old woman who hit her and forced her to work until her knees bled and then kept her working after that. She could almost see her brother in an iron cage, luxurious food placed in front of him while she ate stale bread and drank sour milk. She could almost see the huge looming oven, could almost feel Ronald's hand in hers as they dashed away from that hellish nightmare.

But they said none of that had ever happened.

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THE MYSTERY OF GINERVA WEASLEY

Ginerva Weasley was 9 years old when her parents sold her and her brother, Ronald, into the world of sexual slavery. The family was starving, and Arthur Weasley, the father of the children, says that his children were more than willing, because it was for the good of the family. On April 3rd, 1990, Arthur Weasley escorted his children to the edge of the Indirville Forest, where he set them off on a shortcut. Ginny Weasley recounts the events as such:

_"We were taken in by a woman, an old, strange woman with huge hands. She held Ronald in a cage and forced me to clean. To cook and to clean. God, I hate cleaning. So when she decided she was going to eat Ronald-and me- I took my chance. I shoved her into the oven and I took Ronald and we ran. We ran as fast as we could go."_

When questioned on what had happened to Ronald, Ginerva broke down into tears, repeating the words 'he fell'. Ginerva was apprehended, and is facing life imprisonment.

Ronald Weasley was found on August 10th, and was identified by his dental records. He had been beaten to death, and his body had been picked clean of all meat. Investigators hypothesize that Ginerva went insane from lack of food and water and resorted to killing, and eating, her brother. It seems incredibly gruesome for a nine year old, but district attorney Manuel Devalos argues, "We are unaware of the effects of extreme starvation and dehydration on children... studies have yet to fully explain what happens to the mind when humans, especially children, are exposed to these kinds of conditions."

Ginerva Weasley holds fast to her innocence. Representatives of Mechanisburg Mental Hospital released earlier this week that Ginerva had broken down into a mindless state. According to reports, she simply rocks back and forth repeating the popular children's story _Hansel and Gretel.__  
_

Many people still stand by Ginerva, which leads this reporter to wonder: if Ginerva didn't kill her brother, what the hell happened out there?


End file.
